[EL] Silly Mischaracterizations of LLCs

[BZall at aol.com]

Haven't seen any reaction to yesterday's "_Must-read _ 
(http://www.cq.com/doc/weeklyreport-4436511?from=blogE) CQ Weekly Cover story by Eliza Newlin 
Carney", http://electionlawblog.org/?p=59346, breathlessly  warning about the 
evils of ... [brace yourself ... this could be shocking!!]  ... 
 
"LLCs."  
 
“Intended principally for small companies with two or more owners, LLCs  
allow political organizers to operate almost completely outside of disclosure  
and campaign finance rules.” Eliza Carney, “Will Taxable Groups Hide 
Political  Cash?” CQ Weekly, Mar. 10, 2014, P. 368, 
http://www.cq.com/doc/weeklyreport-4436511
 
OK, full disclosure: I had trouble figuring out  how to work with LLCs back 
when they first came out in the 1970's ("what do you  mean they can be 
either a corporation or a partnership, depending on what box  they check?"), but 
I kind of got over that in the 1980's. But seriously, this  part of the 
article is just complete nonsense.
 
The FEC has long regulated LLCs, including  disregarding them if they are 
just conduits for political money. See, e.g., FEC Advisory Opinion (AO)  
2009-13, Black Rock Group; see also,  Explanation and Justification for the 
Treatment of Limited Liability Companies  Under the Federal Election Campaign 
Act, 64 FR 37397 (July 12, 1999). And after  a period of trying to figure out 
the whole LLC thing, the IRS also caught up  with regulation and disclosure 
some fifteen years ago. http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/eotopicb01.pdf. 
 
And "small?" Really? Some of the biggest LLCs in  the country are Chrysler, 
GMAC, Cargill, Bechtel, Kaiser Permanente, Price  Waterhouse, and Mars. 
Each of those has revenues of more than $25 billion. I'd  like to be that 
"small." 
 
 
It's sad when the media can't even figure out a common business entity  
choice that dates back decades.  


Barnaby Zall 
Of Counsel 
Weinberg, Jacobs & Tolani,  LLP 
10411 Motor City Drive, Suite 500
Bethesda, MD 20817
301-231-6943  (direct dial) 
bzall at aol.com  
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